Picking mechanism for loom



Jan. 13, 1959 P. A. NIMS PICKING MECHANISM FOR LOOM Filed July 30, 1956 INVENTOR PHILIP A.N|MS

ATTORNEY United States Patent PICKING MECHANISM FOR 1.00M

Philip A. Nims, Auburn, Mass., assignor to Crompton & Knowles Corporation, Worcester, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application July 30, 1956, Serial No. 600,868 6 Claims. (Cl. 139-147 This invention relates to improvements in picking mechanism for loomsand it isthe general object of the invention to provide simple and effective means for holding a picking member in adjusted position onthe picking shaft.

Certain types of picking mechanism-employ a shaft generally rectangular in cross section having mounted thereon cam and power arm members. The cam membeer is actuated bya rotating arm secured to the bottom shaft of the loom and the power armmember is connected by a lug strap and sweep stick to the picker stick of the loom. It is occasionally desirable to adjust the position of one or the other of these members along the shaft, more particularly the picking member, to alter the time of the picking stroke of the loom with respect to the loom cycle. This adjustment is ordinarily 'made by means of set screws having cupped ends which sink into the picking shaft but when close adjustments are made it is found that the set screws maynot be able to hold tightly enoughbecause of mutilation of the picking shaft previouslymade by them.

It is an important object of the present invention to hold a picking'member to the picking shaft by means of wedges interposed between the shaft and the member and so constructed that the wedges can be put in place either before orafter the picking member has-been applied tothe shaft.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a picking membersuch as the picking cam with one or more bores oblique with respect toa side of the picking shaft and transverse of the latter and locate in each bore a singular wedge member the body of which is located wholly on one side of the Hat shaft engaging wedging surface of the wedge. Such a construction permits the wedge to be placed in its bore while the cam member is on the shaft without requiring positioning of the wedges before the shaft is inserted in the member.

. It is a still further object of the invention to provide one endof the aforesaid bores with screw threads to receive a screw element for engagement with the large end of the wedge to force the latter against a flat surface of the shaft.

It is another object of the invention to provide the wedge with a stem to extend through the screw element for attachment thereto by means to confine the screw element to the stem, thus forming a primary unit the parts of which are not separable from each other and can be if desired screwed in position on the member before the latter is applied to the shaft thereby forming a secondary unit consisting of the primary unit and said member.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood reference is made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate by way of example the embodiments of the invention and in which:

Fig. 1 shows diagrammatically one end of a loom hav ing the invention applied thereto,

Fig. 2 is a view looking in the direction of arrow 2, Fig. 1, showing the picking shaft and the cam and power arm members thereon,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section on line 3--3,

Fig. 2, showing the wedge element in holding position,

preparatory to insertion into their bore inthe cam member, and

Fig. 6 is an elevation of the wedge element looking in the direction of arrow 6, Fig. 5.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, the loom frame 1, shuttle 2, picker stick 3, lug strap 4 and the sweep stick 5 may be of usual construction. Likewise, the bottom shaft 6, the picking arm 7 secured thereto, and the picking shaft 8 may also be of the usual construction. As shown more particularly in Fig. 2 two picking members are mounted on the shaft 8, a picking cam member 9 and a power arm member 10. The shaft 8 has a generally rectangular cross section and has fiat lengthwise extending surfaces one of which, indicated at 11, is of more particular interest in the present instance. Since eachof the members'9 and 10 may have the invention applied thereto a specific description of only one of them, namely,

member 9, will be given herein.

Referring more'particularly to Figs. 3 to 6, the member 9 has a l1ub12 provided with a hole 13 of generally rectangular cross section to have a loose or sliding fit with the shaft'S. The axis of the hole 13 is more or less coextensive with the axis of shaft 8. The top and bottom surfaces of the hole 12 are indicated at 14 and 15 respectively and the right and left-hand sides of the hole, see Fig. 5,,are indicated at 16 and 17 respectively. Extending to the left of the hub 12 as shown in Figs.-3 and 5 is an integral upwardly facing cam 18 WhlCl'llS given a downward motion by arm 7 t to effect picking of the shuttle. The cam is' so shapedthat rotation of shaft 6 in a clockwise direction, Fig. 2, will causeperiodicrocking of shaft 8 in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 3.

The hub 12 in the present instance has two bores therethrough to receive two wedge and screw elements, but since the bores and the elements in them are alike only one bore and its set of elements will be described. Accordingly, bore Zllis of circular cross section as shown in Fig. 4- .and extends transverse of the axis of the hole 13 and also is slightly oblique with respect to the left side see Figs. 3 and 5. The lower end of the bore 20 is provided with'screw threads 21and the bore 20 extends somewhatintothe hole 13 as is apparent more particularly from Fig. 5.

The wedge element 25 is made originally from cylindrical stock and then has one side slabbed or cut off to form an oblique wedge surface 26 for engagement with the side 11 of shaft 8. If desired the wedge may have a stem 27 extending from the large end 28 thereof. The small end 29 of the wedge element may, if desired, extend upwardly above the top surface 14 of the hole 13 as shown more particularly in Fig. 3 to receive a downward force from an appropriate tool to dislodge the wedge. The bottom of the wedge element is in engagement with a screw element 30 the upper part of which has external screw threads 31 to fit into the screw threads 21 cut in the bore 20. The lower end of the screw element may be in the form of a nut or the like 32 to fit a wrench. The stem 27 extends freely through the screw element 30 and its lower end below element 30 has a circumferential groove 33 into which is fitted a spring washer 34. The screw element 30 is located between the large end 28 and the spring washer 34 so that it is held to the wedge element but preferably has some slight endwise motion on the stem. By the arrangement shown for instance in Fig. 5 the wedge and screw elements form a unit with the two-parts thereof connected to each other to prevent their detachment from each other. When the screw element is turned in a given direction in the screw threads 21, that is, in the direction to feed the screw element upwardly into the bore 20 the wedge will be forced against the side 11 of the picking shaft.

In assembling the parts the hub 12 is slipped over and slid along the shaft 8 to the desired position. At this time the wedge elements may be in the bores 20 or not, as desired. If already in the bores then the'screw element will be turned by a wrench to raise the wedge element along its bore 20 until a tight frictional hold is established between the shaft and the hub 12. If the unit is to be added after the shoe is in position on the shaft then the small end of the wedge element will be pushed up along the bore until the screw threads on the screw element can take hold of the screw threads 21, after which the procedure will be as already described. The reason that it is possible to apply the wedge after the hub 12 is on the shaft 8 is the fact that there is no over-hanging part from the small end which might otherwise strike the wedge in the upward movement of the shaft. The condition which permits the wedge to move into the position shown in Fig. 3 is that the wedge element lies wholly on one side of the plane of the wedge surface 26. When it is desired to adjust the member 12 along the shaft the screw elements are backed off somewhat and the tops of the wedge elements pushed down, as already described, after which the member 12 is slid to a new position and the parts then tightened in place again.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the invention sets forth simple means for clamping a picking member to a picking shaft, this means including a wedge element to engage a fiat lengthwise surface on the shaft together with means screw threaded into the member to force the wedge element against the shaft 8. Assembling of the parts is facilitated by reason of the fact that all of the wedge element lies wholly on one side of the plane of the wedge surface 26, this feature permitting application of the wedge element after the hub 12 has been placed on the shaft 8. Also, the stem 27 and the spring washer 34 serve to hold the screw element to the wedge element as a unit to prevent loss or separation of the elements with respect to each other. When the unit is assembled on the member, the screw element prevents loss or separation of the unit from the member during shipment or other handling of the member before it reaches the loom. The angle of obliquity of the bore 20 with respect to the surface 11 on the shaft is small enough so that once the wedge is in position it will tend to be held there by friction. The angle which has actually been used is? but this is given only as an example of a suitable angle. The ring on the stem 27 is a convenient 4 way of holding elements together but is not the only means which can be used for this purpose.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, what is claimed is:

1. In a picking member for a loom picking shaft formed with a fiat lengthwise surface, a hub having a longitudinal hole therethrough to receive the shaft, a bore through said hub transverse of said hole and oblique to said flat surface when the hub is on the shaft, a single wedge element in said bore having a flat wedging surface extending from the large end to the small end of the wedge element, thelatter lying wholly on one side of the plane of said wedging surface, and a screw element threaded into one end of the bore engaging the large end of the wedge element and effective when turned in a given direction to force the wedging surface into tight holding relation with the flat surface of the shaft, said wedge element being insertible small end first into said bore after the'hub is on said shaft due to the fact that the wedge element lies wholly on one side of the plane of said wedging surface.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein the bore in the member is cylindrical and oblique with respect to said longitudinal hole and the wedge has a segmental cylindrical surface fitting the bore, said surface beginning at the top of the wedge element and extending downwardly uninterrupted and coaxially with said element to at least the bottom of the wedging surface.

3. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein the wedge element consists of a singular body member having a stem extending from the larger end thereof through and beyond the screw element and a ring on the part of the stern beyond the screw element prevents removal of the latter from said stem.

4. The picking member set forth in claim 1 wherein means on one of said elements is positioned for engagement with the other element to prevent separation of said elements when the screw element is threaded into said bore.

5. The structure set forth in claim 4 wherein the screw element has an axial hole'therethrough and the wedge element has a stem extending from the large end thereof through said axial hole and said means to prevent sep- I References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Blanchard I an. 6, 1953 Amm Mar. 17, 1953 

